From Surviving to Thriving: The Inner Game of Modern Life - Steve Magness

A New Way of Being

Simon Mundie

Education, Spirituality, Self-improvement, Health & Fitness, Religion & Spirituality

4.8 • 523 Ratings

🗓️ 17 March 2025

⏱️ 66 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

I am delighted to welcome Steve Magness back to the show to discuss moving from survival mode to truly thriving. Modern life, with its relentless pressures and social media’s constant comparison trap, leaves many feeling isolated, inadequate, and unfulfilled. So what to do about it?

Steve shares his thoughts on the ‘inner game’ - the art of intrinsic motivation and long-term fulfilment. Steve opens up about his own experience living in survival mode while being a whistleblower against Nike's Oregon project. We also tackle the shifting nature of the American Dream, from internal fulfilment to external validation, and the vital importance of 'non-attachment'.

Highlights:

The rise of burnout, mental health struggles, and loneliness in modern society
The impact of social media on attention spans and mental health as well as feelings of inadequacy and isolation
The ‘inner game’—learning to play for intrinsic motivation, not just external rewards
How values and ethics guide decision-making in high-pressure environments
The American Dream: from internal fulfilment to chasing external validation
Sport as a metaphor for life and why self-transcendence matters more than trophies
Non-attachment, the paradox of self and no-self, and the balance between flexibility and security

Steve Magness episode 1 - Do Hard Things: https://pod.fo/e/1832d0

Book: https://www.stevemagness.com/books/

🔗 Free course on beating burnout and finding flow: https://www.simonmundie.com/beat-burnout-mini-course

Transcript

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0:00.0	I am delighted to welcome back author, coach and Bastion of Integrity, Steve Magnus,
0:11.2	the man who blew the whistle that exposed the Nike Oregon project.
0:15.8	Steve and I are talking about the challenges of moving from the survival mode that so many people are stuck in
0:22.2	right now to a more fulfilling and sustainable way of living. We'll explore the epidemic of burnout
0:28.1	and anxiety and loneliness that's gripping the modern world and we will explore Steve's personal
0:34.3	experiences of navigating these exact challenges all while taking on one of the
0:39.2	most powerful corporations in the world. This is a conversation about rethinking your inner game
0:44.4	and your intentions, as well as the idea of the American dream and finding balance between
0:49.5	who you think you are and who you truly are.
0:55.0	Steve Magnus, it's a pleasure to see you again. How's it going?
0:58.8	It's going well. Thanks so much for having me.
1:01.2	It's a pleasure. I thoroughly enjoyed our first chat and I'm delighted you're back again.
1:05.5	We're going to be talking about your new book, Win the Inside Game.
1:08.5	But I want to start by just acknowledging the fact that you're
1:11.9	biting off such a big piece of meat with this insofar as you're talking about such a topical
1:18.2	issue, which is moving from this survival mode, just surviving that so many people are in,
1:25.6	over to a more sustainable, fulfilled way of thriving.
1:30.7	And that is such a topical issue because as you write in the book, like rates of burnout are
1:36.9	soaring. This is something I talk about a lot. But yeah, could you just speak to how you see the
1:41.8	volume of this problem being? I think it's one of the problems of our time
1:46.6	because what we do is we have rates of burnout are increasing, rates of mental health issues,
1:52.8	especially among young people are reaching disastrous levels of epidemic. We have an epidemic of loneliness. In what I saw, first in my world of
	...

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